By Ansley Simmons |Contributor 
Students gathered around the pool at University Village for a cookout that launched AU's Inaugural Residence Hall Association (RHA) week on Sept. 4.The cookout had a lot of food options, including hot-dogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers.Students were greeted by RHA board members Karen Sarpong and Diana Calixto. They signed students in while also informing them about the upcoming RHA elections.Calixto said, “The exact date is to be determined but elections for general assembly members will occur in September. General assembly members voice opinions about any issues that students have with the residence.”Sarpong added, “One issue that people are talking about is the gate entrance to UV.” The gate has been broken for almost a week.
Members of the RHA lined up to serve the food to students. Because of the food options at most events being pizza, the RHA strongly advertised that there would be other food options at the cookout.At the end of the serving line, Paris Gardener, Director of Advertising, said that it took two weeks to plan this event.National Commission Coordinator Jaidi Velasquez said, "The goal of this event is to unite all residence halls, and everybody loves food so that brings people together.”AU Freshman Whitney Heller and Atria Bailey-Page said they heard about this event from their RA's at Oak Hall and that they plan on attending the other RHA week events.RHA Week continued on Sept. 5. with Milk, Cookies, RHA from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Oak Hall. The next event is Can for Cone, a can and clothing drive on Sept. 6. from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The finale of RHA week is a carnival at Jaguar Park from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Make sure to bring a shirt to tie-dye at the finale of these events!